Failures
by darkhooded-angel
Summary: Set ten years after the series. What if everything went wrong for our SD characters? (songfic)


Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is owned by Inoue Takehiko, while the song "All the Love in the World" is owned by Diana Ross.

Title: Failures

What if everything went wrong for our SD heroes? Set 10 years after the series.

0o0o0

"**_I am but a voice heard,  
_**_**A voice existing but ignored.  
**__**Deep inside, I dwell in you.  
**__**But what can a little voice do?"**_

"_**I give advices that are unheard,  
**_**_I guide and help but am disregarded.  
_****_What else can a feeble voice do?  
_**_**But to watch helplessly as you suffer."**_

"_**Here is the only thing I can offer  
**__**A song to guide you everyday.  
**__**A song that I hope can be of help  
**__**Please hear me, even just today."**_

0o0o0

"_**Don't lose your way with each passing day,  
**__**You've come so far, don't throw it away."**_

However, he already did.

No one knows him anymore. You know that gorilla-looking guy who dunks the ball with almost inhuman strength. He is the guy who can lead a team full of hard-headed morons.

A lot of people used to recognize him… but that was the past. The once strong and mighty gorilla now sits on one of the dark alley with rats, cockroaches and other insects.

Any passerby runs off with great speed when he sees him. You can't blame them. The once highly-respected man became a lazy imbecile who can't even take a bath, wear proper clothes or shave his beard.

It wasn't like this the last ten years. But after his sick younger sister died of an accident, and his parents fought and killed each other right in front of him, he just broke down.

This man got his bottle of beer. His hand is already trembling because he is too drunk. The last drop of beer trickled down his unruly beard. "Damn."

He cursed and stood up. He tripped on a dead rat. More curses…

He went out of his territory to buy a new bottle of beer. More and more eyes attracted, more and more fear aroused, more and more hatred created. With just one look, they already pre-judged.

The man did not give a freaking damn. After everything that happened, none of these mattered.

In fact, nothing mattered. He lost his pride. He lost his dignity. He lost his everything…

Even his wonderful memories, he just threw them away. Along with the flow of time, no one will remember, and neither will he.

0o0o0

"_**Leave believing, Dreams are worth weeping  
**__**Wonders are waiting to start"**_

Just one mention of his name, everybody's ears clapped. All he needs to do to catch everyone's attention is to be there. If he wants to get something, all he needs to do is ask.

He should be happy, right? Unfortunately, he isn't.

Yes, he is the youngest executive one ever heard of, and he seems to be at the peak of his life. But in truth, he feels the exact opposite. All he can feel is anger and frustration.

All he wanted to do was to fulfill his lifelong dream: to be a pro basketball player. All he wanted to do was to be free from his father and accomplish his goal. All he wanted to be is to be happy.

He does not want to do papers, read papers, study paper, sign papers…

He can still feel it: the touch of the rubber ball against his palm, the 'thump' his feet creates whenever he runs across the court, the irritating sensation in his ears every time silly fan girls scream his name… Yes, it's irritating, but he misses every moment of his life when he was still called "Super Rookie".

He regrets each and every moment that he had taken basketball for granted.

Why did he enter the world full of paper works, anyway? Why did he leave his contenting world?

Just as if to answer him, the door opened, revealing a man in his early 50's. "Kaede, what are you doing? The meeting is already about to start! I called your secretary, but she said that you weren't saying anything. So…?"

He growled under his breath. Yes, he did not want to be an executive or whatsoever, but he needs to inherit his dad's company.

Ever since he was young, it was always his father, his father, his father. When his father told him to stop playing basketball, he almost cried blood. But no, his dad did not pay heed.

He could have run away, right? However, he did not. His mother, before she died, asked him to take care of his dad.

And no, he will not fail her. For his mother, he will do anything: even to turn his back to his dreams.

0o0o0

"_**Live your story: faith hope and glory  
**__**Hold to the truth in your heart."**_

Drugs, alcohol, smoke… What more? Sex?

He was once a happy teenager. He would smile to the world eternally as if the world was a happy place ready to accept whoever and whatever he is.

Actually, the concept of the world depends on how one sees it. In his case, the world full of love and warmth was all a façade. The real world is a place of uttered coldness, a place of masks, lies and everything hidden.

It is covered of sins.

Not a single sincere smile escaped his lips now. Every now and then, he would flash his fake smile.

There was once a certain someone that suddenly appeared in his life. He liked this certain someone. However, this certain someone did not like him.

"Stop flashing your fake smiles to me. They might fool others, but they are nowhere fooling me."

It's true…

He smiled facedly, and that was just when he was in high school. Now, his smiles are way faker.

Why did he change?

His dad died when he was still very young. From elementary to high school, his mom raised him alone. He did not know what his mom does for a living, and neither did he bother ask.

He found out when he turned first year college. His mother founded a street gang, in desperation, and they called it "Dark Kanagawa". They transported illegal drugs to drug lords, earning a million dollars monthly.

He only found out when his mom died. Did he like it? No. Now, he has to lead "Dark Kanagawa".

Sometimes, he feels like he had been cheated. No one needs to ask why. Imagine being brought up the whole seventeen years full of warmth and love, and suddenly finding out that the happy world you grew up in was all a big lie.

Yes, maybe, he should give up trying to get back to his world of happiness and warmth. The pain of being cheated is too much to bear. He is beginning to lose his values and forgetting that he can be happy again…

0o0o0

"_**Souls in the wind, must learn how to bend.  
**__**Seek out a star, hold on till the end."**_

"I am not yet dead! I'm just paralyzed!" A lady in her mid-twenties screamed in her mind. A drop of tear slid down her cheek. She is in a hospital lying alone, staring at the ceiling all day.

She wants to give up. After a car accident which paralyzed her (and made her family think she's dead), and fighting leukemia for God-knows years, she is now losing hope.

She lies in the hospital alone. No one visits her, no one talks to her. She's dead, but breathing. Weird, but true. She can not do anything but think and cry.

It hurts.

No, not only the pain chemotherapy brings, but also the pain brought by being alone.

Can she move again? No one knows. She only has one wish: to be with her family again.

And as far as she knows, it is far from being fulfilled.

0o0o0

"_**Valley, mountain, there is a fountain  
**__**Washes our tears all the way."**_

Ever since he was young, people around him knew that he is special. Indeed, he grew up to be a fine young lad who is intelligent, friendly, has the very strong ability to lead, and most of all, can make anybody smile.

He had always made his friends smile. His friends want to be with him always.

But they did not know something about him. Something that makes him feel that his ability to make anyone smile is a curse.

When both him and his sister were still studying at Shoyo high school, there was something that happened, Because of this certain incident, her sister never smiled. She never laughed. She would just sit at a corner and cry. Cry all day and night until she gets tired and falls asleep.

He tried more than a couple of times to make her stop crying. Even if she won't smile, just at least talk to someone, he knows that she can recover.

But no, his sister just won't. She'll continue crying, pretending that he wasn't there.

It is the biggest defeat he ever experienced.

Just then, a car stopped in front of their house. When he looked through the window, he saw his mom getting out the car. Then, she got a wheelchair. She reached in the car, and carried his sister. She placed his sister in the wheelchair.

He stared at his sister. She still has that grim expression on her face. Her eyes had already gone too small because of crying.

He can feel needles prickling his eyes. His vision blurred. His tears began trickling down his cheeks.

Yes, his ability to make others smile is a curse.

What is the use of making others smile when he can't even make his loved ones smile?

He hopes for one, only one, thing: for his sister to smile again.

But judging from how his sister cries, it will still be a long time from now.

0o0o0

"_**Words are swaying, someone is praying  
**__**Please let us come home to stay"**_

She is your typical pink sister, a nun who prays and prays everyday. Aside from praying, she isn't doing pretty much.

She is almost sinless. She never had a chance to go out of the convent, where the world is full of sins.

All her prayers should have been granted by now. But life isn't fair. The good and kind ones aren't the happy ones.

Going to convent is not her choice. It is no one's choice. It is nobody's choice, except for the bastard priest at their place.

The priest had always eyed her ever since she was young. He is nice to her parents. They aren't rich, so the priest lends them money.

Then, tragedy struck them. Her sister died, and then her father lost his job. Because of these, they are at a crisis.

But the priest suddenly changed. He agreed to lend them only if they will send her to his convent.

Her parents agreed, as long as "Their daughter is safe". The priest, with a sneer, agreed.

No one, except the priest, knew that her eight-month stay at the convent will extend to eight years.

She had never seen her parents after she went to the convent. How she misses them…

Every time the priest eyes her, she feels chills running down her spine.

No one can resist her. She had grown to a beautiful woman. She has full-grown body, lovely blue eyes, full lips, fair complexion, and long curly hair.

Last night, the priest got drunk. He entered her room, eyes all ablaze, full of pleasure and longing, full of hidden and suppressed lust.

True, he and her parents agreed that she'll be safe. But until when? She hasn't seen her parents for eight years already. She doesn't even know if they are still alive.

Until when? There is a big possibility that her safety will fade away. She'll continue living in the convent, succumbing to the loneliness and fear she feels that grows everyday… Silently killing her…

0o0o0

"_**When we are out there in the dark, we'll dream about the sun  
**__**In the dark, We'll feel the light. Warm our hearts, everyone…"**_

People think he is happy and contented. True, he seems contented. He is a bachelor with a master's degree in Chemical Engineering, a success in his chosen career and a very cheerful person.

But no, he is not.

Behind those sunny smiles he shows everyone, he's lonely and depressed, up to the point of being suicidal. There is this voice inside him telling him that there is something lacking in his life.

He doesn't need this inner voice to know that there is something missing in his life. He wasn't like this before. He seemed pretty contented with his life even if his only family is his brother.

He knows what caused the sudden change.

When he was still in high school, he is always with his best friend. Everything seemed normal then. He and his best bud are almost inseparable.

However, when he graduated in Kainandai high, his best friend is left alone. Then, his best friend developed a crush on someone. They became friends, and simple admiration turned to love.

The saying "You can never know what is important to you until you lose it" is true. He learned this the hard way.

This lonely feeling that he feels can not be erased by anything or anyone but his best bud. He satisfies himself with being with his best bud, who is always with the girl.

It hurts, but if this is the only way to stop him from killing himself or others, then he'll continue doing it.

0o0o0

"_**If we hold on together  
**__**I know our dreams will never die.  
**__**Dreams see us through to forever  
**__**Where clouds roll by  
**__**For you and I"**_


End file.
